Are You Ready for Some Boomer Bashing?

Syndicated columnist Norman Chad, lowering the boom on “Monday Night Football” TV commentator Boomer Esiason:

“[Esiason] has no insight, no wisdom, no humor, no perspective, no edge, no substance, no style and no special skills, other than insisting on telling us [often incorrectly] what a penalty will be just moments before the referee announces it.

“He’s as common as a housefly, only louder.

“He is so intoxicated by the sound of his own voice, he should broadcast from an echo chamber.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL’s single-season scoring record?

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Say what? Baltimore Oriole outfielder Albert Belle, when asked about the firing of Manager Ray Miller:

“He developed some bad relationships with players that caused players to leave the team and players to lose respect for him. But I have nothing bad to say about the guy.”

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Or, he was hungry: Having dinner at a restaurant in Half Moon Bay on Tuesday, Steve Young was going through the salad bar line a third time.

“You’re only supposed to go through once,” said another patron, John Galvin. “Maybe he just forgot he’d been through twice already.”

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Evil forces: Rod Beck gave up the winning home run as the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League championship series.

The question, as supplied by Jay Marriotti of the Chicago Sun-Times: “So, what in the hex happens when you combine an ex-Cub with the Curse of the Bambino on a rainy night in Yankee Stadium?”

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Concerned alum: Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune:

“When Bear wideout Curtis Conway was asked if he was worried about what might happen before USC played Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend, the former Trojan receiver said:

“ ‘Man, I don’t care about that ball. The only ball I care about is Bears’ football.’ ”

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Counting down: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “Happiness is holding a ticket from Las Vegas on the Rams winning the Super Bowl. They opened at 200-1 to win the Big One, and 75-1 to win the NFC. These days, they’re down to 10-1 and 5-1.

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More Armstrong: “Here’s why you can never trust statistics in the NFL:

“According to the league’s quarterback rating system, Brett Favre is the 13th-best quarterback out there. A regular average Joe trying to avoid the 9-5 life, Favre has a rating of 85.8, putting him behind such stalwarts as Jon Kitna, Billy Joe Hobert and Shane Matthews.”

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Trivia answer: Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers, 176 points in 1960. Hornung, the Packers’ star running back, also kicked extra points and field goals.

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And finally: John Hawkins of Golf World magazine on best fist pumper on the PGA Tour:

“Tiger Woods: Anointed himself as the Prince of Pump at the 1994 U.S. Amateur, where he debuted his patented uppercut-primal victory roar.

“We saw it again at the ’96 U.S. Amateur and have witnessed it several times since.”